Indian LGBT supporters take part in a Rainbow Pride Walk in Guwahati on February 5. (BIJU BORO/AFP/Getty Images)

I met him at a mall in Hong Kong. We had been exchanging emails for months beforehand. I was nervous but hid it well since he would be too. We met and walked to the bus and then down to Stanley to take pictures and wander around the south side of Hong Kong. It was our first date, and we fell in love. It was four and a half years ago. Before meeting him, I never thought I would ever get married. In my home of Canada or other places it was possible but this being Asia, it would never happen, or so I thought.

On Wednesday, the highest court in Taiwan, the Council of Grand Justices, ruled the country’s marriage laws violate its constitution. The island nation will probably be the first in Asia to make same-sex marriage legal. It is a huge deal and has the chance to change all of Asia. It was something unthinkable when I arrived in Asia 15 years ago as an English teacher in South Korea.

Coming to Seoul in 2003 and being gay was a challenging experience. The places to meet were limited to either a small area in the Western expat area of Itaewon called "Homo Hill" or the bars around Jongno where there were no signs or any way of knowing there was a gay bar.

Living there for seven years and dating a lot, there were never any never thoughts of settling down and having a long-term relationship. The men were more focused on finding a wife to satisfy their mom’s wishes for grandchildren than finding another man to settle down. The country has changed a lot but at the same time, I knew finding someone to build a life there with was limited.

On the day of the Taiwanese Court ruling, in South Korea, a military captain was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison for having sex with his boyfriend while doing his mandatory military service. Amnesty International and others have called the trial a "witch hunt" against the LGBTI community as all males must serve almost two years in the military.

A day before the Taiwanese decision, two men were caned 83 times each in Indonesia for having gay sex. They were only 20 and 23 years old. The beatings started at 9AM in the morning and lasted for four hours as hundreds watched, cheered and took videos from cell phones, according to video footage of the event. It happened in a conservative part of the country in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh Province -- but the singling out of the LGBTI community continues in the cities as well.

An Indonesian man prepares to get caned in public at Syuhada mosque on May 23, 2017 in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The punishment came a day after the police arrested 141 men at a sauna in the capital Jakarta on Monday due to suspicion of having a...

While some were caned in Aceh, others were arrested in North Jakarta. Police raided a gay bath house and arrested 144 men for "public indecency" on the same day. If convicted, each person could face up to 10 years in prison along with fines. The Indonesian government has been forcing mobile phone companies to limit data to gay mobile apps like Blued (from China) and Grindr (ironically being purchased entirely by Beijing billionaire Zhou Yahui on the same day) as well as trying to ban 80 LGBTI websites.

In Singapore, the government banned foreigners from attending the annual gay-pride rally "Pink Dot" on June 13. Organizers will be required to check identification to prevent foreigners from attending. In the past, Facebook, Google and Goldman Sachs had funded the event, but with the new regulations, they will be prevented from doing so. The city state still has laws criminalizing sex between men.

While physical harm and restrictions on the LGBTI community abound around Asia, there are small exceptions that are starting to open up for us, including places like Taiwan. And there is potential for it to get even better thanks to people bringing about change.

A week after arriving in Hong Kong I met Angus Leung, a local Immigration Officer. He and his partner were married in April 2014. They sued the government for the right to have the same spousal benefits as their colleagues. The High Court ruled in their favor, and the government has until September 1 to make the changes necessary.

The Hong Kong government is still trying to figure out if they should appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal and there were calls Wednesday to do so from politicians and conservative groups who are against equal rights. The opposition is strong but there is hope for a better future.

I love where I am. I love my job. Most importantly I love who I am with. We have talked, jokingly, about getting married. Now it’s no longer a joke. Every day I get closer to marrying my love.